Fidias Panayiotou, the 26-year-old TikToker and now leader of the Direct Democracy party, said on Thursday he will not attend another meeting of the National Council.

In a video published online, Panayiotou began with a troll: “Christodoulides kicked me out of the National Council!”

He quickly added: “Just kidding.”

The social media influencer explained that he does not feel he has the requisite knowledge of the Cyprus problem to attend sessions of the National Council – an advisory body to the president.

As the leader of a parliamentary party, he had previously attended once.

“Because I have self-awareness, and like Socrates used to say, know thyself…I recognise that I don’t know enough things about the Cyprus issue so as to advise the president,” the young politician said, speaking in the Cypriot dialect.

“Due to rapid developments that we’ve recently had on the Cyprus issue…the UN secretary-general will come to Cyprus…I felt that I should not be the one to represent Direct Democracy [at the National Council].

“So we intend to send someone else who has the knowledge and experience.”

The person designated to sit in for Panayiotou will be Mike Spanos, an economist and banker.

“He is not a member of Direct Democracy, but he’s someone I trust because he has a great deal of knowledge about Turkey, the Cyprus problem and the economy.

“I think it would be a big plus for Mike Spanos to be at the National Council.”